Go ahead and fish for Atlantic striped bass along the Jersey coast, but don't try it more than three miles offshore.

That's the message from federal officials who announced yesterday they charged two charter boat operators -- one from New Jersey and one from New York -- with illegally catching the coveted sport fish in federal waters.

Jerome E. Hurd of Avalon and Steven N. Forsberg of Montauk, N.Y., were charged with illegal fishing and filing false reports relating to two trips last fall in which their boats traveled outside state boundaries and came back with striped bass. Charles also were filed against Viking Starship, owner and operator of the vessel Forsberg ran.

Considered one of the most desirable species for commercial and recreational fisherman from Maine to North Carolina, striped bass have sharply declined in numbers over the years, leading to a ban on fishing them in federal waters since 1990.

Jeffrey Ray, a special agent with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Hurd took patrons last December anywhere from 12 to 15 miles offshore for striped bass, and Forsberg brought customers last November about 4 miles off the coast of Montauk. Each boat carried between 30 and 40 passengers, he said.

Unknown to the charter boat operators, undercover state officers and investigators from NOAA's Fisheries Service Office of Law Enforcement were on board posing as patrons, Ray said. He said his agency had information that Forsberg and Hurd made several earlier trips for striped bass in the prohibited areas, also known as the Exclusive Economic Zone.

"Unscrupulous charter and party boat captains quietly promote their willingness to take patrons into federal waters, primarily when striped bass are scarce in state waters," he said. "This creates an unfair business environment that penalizes law-abiding charter and party boat captains who refuse to break the rules."

He said the charges were filed in late September and early October but NOAA released the information yesterday as a warning to fishermen as striped bass fishing season gets underway.

Hurd faces up to $25,000 in fines. Forsberg, who also is accused of previously violating tuna landing regulations, could be fined $30,000 and lose his fishing permit for 30 days, Ray said.